Category: Dating + Relationships

Love Averages

Paula R. Hilton

The typical hug lasts 3 seconds. So does the average wave goodbye. That first kiss we longed for, the one that stopped time? Scientific surveys among lovers show it took about 10 seconds. Speaking of kisses, most will experience their first around 15 years of age. By 17.4 years, the Read more

Paula R. Hilton

Paula R. Hilton explores the immediacy of memory and how our most important relationships define us. Her work has been nominated for Best Small Fictions and has appeared in The Feminine Collective, The Sunlight Press, Writing In A Woman’s Voice, Dear Damsels, The Tulane Review, and elsewhere. Her novel, Little Miss Chaos, was selected as a Best Indie Teen Read by Kirkus, and her first poetry collection, At Any Given Second, received a Kirkus star. She holds an MFA from the University of New Orleans.

memorize

Serafina Valenzuela

I memorize you. your dreams and your aspirations your favorite restaurant order and the way you take your coffee, or don’t. your favorite songs – the lyrics are engrained in my mind. the shampoo you use and the way you roll your toothpaste tube your birth date is on a Read more

Serafina Valenzuela

Serafina Valenzuela is a college writer and poet. She is studying to become a trauma therapist and intends to use her experiences to aid others in finding ways to heal. Her writings center around her own traumas, in which she reveals the realities of her pain while instilling hope into her works.

Marriage in the Sun

Elizabeth Markley

Robert was passed out in the bed. Jackie stared at her drunken husband with a mix of anger, pity, and relief. The anger was directed solely at Robert – he had started the fight, after all. And he was the one who lost a thousand dollars at the casino. But Read more

Elizabeth Markley

Elizabeth Markley is a writer living in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been previously published in The Write Launch, The Mighty Line, Cleaning Up Glitter, Haunted Waters Press, and Castabout Literary Magazine. When she is not writing she is kept busy by her children, two rambunctious boys under the age of four.

WOLF MOON

Julie Anderson

wolf moon illuminates an enigma wicked by design wolf moon wails fearless master of ceremonies always in control wolf moon serenades urgent covetousness thinly- veiled wolf moon moans “Mystery Moon”by cogdogblog is licensed under CC0 1.0 Julie AndersonJulie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired Read more

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired to create this safe place for women to share their secrets, desires, triumphs and pain as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. In her column Pursuit of Perfection, she explores the importance of rectifying the balance of inner and outer beauty through essays, poems and articles on self-esteem, shame, family, and self- acceptance.

the chaos in my bed

Katie Simpson

i’d much rather write a poem on my bed’s riot than the love triangle on my horizon (but i know what you’re eager to hear) floral pattern sheets become cartesian chaos: linear lines over my chest, quadratic parabolas echoing around my arms, the logarithmic curve slowly fading toward my pillow. Read more

Katie Simpson

Katie Simpson is a writer and photographer based in San Francisco. Her work has been featured in 24hr Neon Mag, Chaleur Magazine, Entropy Magazine, HitRecord's Body Book, Quiet Lightning, and THAT literary review.. When not writing, she loves traveling and people watching. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/honest_creative.

JOLENE

Courtney LeBlanc

“And I could easily understand how you could take my man but you don’t know what he means to me.”–Dolly Parton, “Jolene” We were over by then, completely finished. We’d both been through the five stages of grief but I circled back to depression. You asked what you could do Read more

Courtney LeBlanc

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of Beautiful & Full of Monsters (forthcoming from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), chapbooks All in the Family (Bottlecap Press) and The Violence Within (Flutter Press), and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She has her MBA from University of Baltimore and her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She loves nail polish, wine, and tattoos. Read her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79.

Final Exam

Krystal Beatriz Galvis

You should leave him because: (Choose one of the following answers) A) He’s like the fucking sun. He burns you with his hands, his lips, his eyes. B) You hate him because he’s like the fucking sun. He doesn’t care if he leaves you in ashes. C) He brought your demons back into your Read more

Krystal Beatriz Galvis

Krystal Beatriz Galvis, born and raised in San Diego, California, is a writer fascinated with magic, fantasy, and darkness. She is a MFA graduate student at San Diego State University studying creative writing. Outside from writing short stories, she researches any Latinx fables or myths and writes small poems on her Instagram page under the hashtag #krystalg.

Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help: Interview with Jackson Katz, Author of “The Macho Paradox”

John Michael Antonio

Jackson Katz, Ph.D., is an educator, author, activist, and social theorist. Katz has long been a significant figure and thought leader in the growing global movement of men committed to promoting gender equality and preventing gender violence. I consider him one of my intellectual heroes. I had the pleasure of Read more

John Michael Antonio

John Michael Antonio is a freelance writer, photographer, poet and screenwriter. He claims his Midwestern roots while at the same time admitting his incurable and insatiable love and addiction for all things New York City. He has been the husband to his wife, the love of his life, for almost thirty years and is a father of three wonderful children. He is an unapologetic male feminist as well as a passionate lover of fashion, art, movies and music from all eras and genres. An endless dreamer, John Michael is also an avid historian, ex-punk rocker and a legendary Internet surfer who sleeps, on average, about four hours a day. His work has also been featured on The Good Men Project.